Analysis of water price determinants in France: cost recovery, competition for the market and operator's strategy

This paper explores the effects of technical factors, competition and strategies of firms on the water price in France. From data on the procedures of delegation of water utilities, we estimate a price equation, taking into account the unobserved strategies of private operators and geographical effects. We show that the local strategy of the operator has a significant impact on the water price level and that neglecting it would lead to bias the effects of other factors.